News

Cnik will publish articles of news here that relate either to Cnik's achievements or specific industry news that Cnik believes will be of interest to our customers

Top Stories

• Cnik qualifies as a Sophos Silver Partner.
  04 June 2008 - After recommending Sophos as an antivirus and associated security application provided for many years Cnik have now established a relationship with Sophos and been awarded the Silver Partner status.
  

  
  As part of a portfolio of services that Cnik provides and particularly our security and business continuity consultancy Cnik has been in the position to recommend the Sophos range of Security and Control products due to our experience of using them on past projects.  We had not previously established a work relationship with Sophos but used the products because they were of a superior design to their competitors and the installation and management of the applications was simple, reliable and centralised.  Sophos has one central administration panel that can control antivirus, anti-spam, anti-adware, client firewalls and Network Access Control for Windows, Mac, Unix or Linux systems.  The best bit about Sophos however is the support and you get 24x7x365 support direct from technical engineers from a British company as standard with any Sophos product. Cnik are proud to be a Sophos Silver Partner and ask that you contact us if you would like a superior product with excellent customer service.

  For a 30 day free evaluation of Sophos Endpoint Security and Control click here

• Save IT Costs by Outsourcing some or all of your services.
  May 2008 - With companies of all sizes attempting to cut costs as the recession looms the IT budget obviously comes under close scrutiny.  Outsourcing some or all of your IT could be the answer.
  

  When the economy takes a downturn and sales become tight many companies start to re-examine their costs with investment in IT often becoming an early casulty.  After reducing or suspending  capital investment in IT hardware and software further reductions in IT send are often difficult to achieve while maintaining the same service levels so often hard decisions need to be taken.  Staffing is often the biggest cost with a team of four IT staff costing around £150,000 a year to employ so outsourcing your IT can be one consideration.  You can also work smarter by reducing the system administraton workload and so reducing the numbers of staff needed in your IT team by outsourcing part of your IT requirements (like support for your Cisco network infrastructure), using server virtualisation by VMware or Microsoft, and by utilising centralised system management tools like Microsoft System Centre.  Please see our Outsourcing, VMware or Cisco pages for more information.

• Cnik join the VMware VIP Partner Program
  06 May 2008 - Cnik today received confirmation that we have achieved the accreditation as a VMware VIP Professional Partner. This enables allows Cnik to market VMware produces and services.
  

  In a further expansion of the products and services that Cnik can offer and support we have today received our notification that we have achieved recognition as a VMware VIP Professional Partner.  VMware is an industry leading provider of server and desktop virtualisation products that allow much greater flexibility in hosting and operating virtual machines.  VMware technologies help to cut the costs of provisioning physical machines to run server and desktop applications and so help to cut the environmental footprint as well as the costs of modern server and desktop intensive businesses.

• Microsoft announces Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essentials Server 2008
  April 2008 - Microsoft has announced details of the replacement for SBS2003 and a new product aimed at mid-sized businesses.
  

  After the recent release of Windows Server 2008 Microsoft have now provided more details regarding the replacement of Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 (SBS2003). The current version of SBS is based on Windows Server 2003 and so with that being replaced with Windows Server 2008 so SBS will be updated.  Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 (SBS2008) contains updated versions of it's key components including Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Forefront Security Small Business Edition, and Windows Server Update Services 3.0

  Microsoft Small Business Server is aimed at Small to Medium sized businesses with between 5 and 75 users.  It provides many of the features used by larger companies, such as e-mail, Internet connectivity, internal Web sites, remote access, support for mobile devices, file and printer sharing, backup, and restore—all at one affordable price.

  Microsoft also announced a new edition to its server products called Microsoft Essential Business Server 2008.   Similar in concept to Small Business Server it is a collection of technologies aimed at a mid-sized business of between 50 and 300 users.  The package contains licences to run the software across three (standard edition) or four (premium edition) hardware servers

  Both new products will be available in the second half of 2008.

• Microsoft launches  Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Server 2008 in Scotland
  23 April 2008 - Microsoft launches the latest versions of three of it's core products in Scotland.
  

  After previously launching Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (W2008), Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 globally and to our friends south of the border Microsoft held a launch event for the new products in Edinburgh on 23 April 2008.   The new products are all evolutions on previously very successful products rather than anything revolutionary but equally they can each benefit a business if a business needs a specific service.  As evolutions they build on the successes of the previous products and therefore should deliver greater stability, reliability and speed of response rather than introducing a whole new set of incompatibilities and instabilities that we quite often get from completely new Microsoft products.

  It would be difficult to summarise all the new benefits of each product here but there are significant advances in Windows Server 2008 regarding security, data transfer rates between locations on a WAN, and Terminal Servers.  VS2008 is a programming environment that is needed to build application that take advantage of the new technologies in W2008 and .Net 3.5. SQL Server 2008 has great improvements in Business Intelligence as well as many other functions.  Please see microsoft.com for further details or contact Cnik here.

• Cnik achieves Cisco Certified Select Partner status
  17 April 2008 - Cisco Certified Select Partner status.
  

  After previously being a Cisco Registered Partner Cnik have today qualified as a Cisco Certified Select Partner which is a Cisco Partner Specialisation for supplying Cisco services to Small and Medium Businesses (SMB).  The certification allows Cnik to deliver Cisco's Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) range of products which is aimed at bringing enterprise level features to Small and medium sized businesses.  The SBCS is a feature rich bundle of core Cisco technologies packaged in a single small unit and with management features enabling a small business with limited IT resource to enhance their business with technologies such as IP Telephones, Video conferencing, Wireless networking, Home working via VPNs and a high level of security. 

• Should you upgrade to Windows Server 2008?
  28 March 2008 - Windows Server 2008.

  At present Cnik would only recommend upgrading from Windows Server 2003 if there was a new feature of Windows Server 2008 that your business needed now.  Technically is should be safe to do so but we would recommend waiting so that a body of evidence is established before committing to a potentially complex upgrade.  If you are still running Windows Server NT 4.0 or Windows Server 2000 then Windows Server 2008 will provide substantial improvements in security and reliability and you should consider it in the near term.  If you are installing a new server that's not a domain controller to act as a web server, enterprise applications server, data storage or Terminal Server then we would definitely consider using Windows Server 2008 now in order to save time and expenses in upgrading at a later date.  An upgrade of part of the domain infrastructure is a complex task with many considerations so please think about it carefully before continuing.  If you need assistance in considering, planning installing or supporting this product then please contact Cnik at enquiries@cnik.co.uk.

• Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Server 2008
  27 February 2008 - Microsoft releases Windows Server 2008.
  

  It may seem like Windows Server 2008 (previously called Windows 'Longhorn' Server) has been around for quite a while if you've been testing the Beta or pre-release versions but it has now been officially released for operations in production environments, or in other words, we can now buy it.  Windows Server 2008 is Microsoft's latest version of their Operating System (OS) for running the background operations on a network server much as Windows XP or Windows Vista runs the operations on desktop PCs.  Windows Server 2008 replaces Windows Server 2003 and is built on the Windows NT 6.0 kernel (core set of programming code) as is Windows Vista and so shares much of the same architecture and functionality.  It delivers new levels of security, digital rights management, technical, management and administration functionality; improved installation, deployment and recovery; new encryption features, improved Terminal Services and new TS Application delivery; and many other benefits for integration with technologies that have emerged since Windows Server 2003 was released over 5 years ago.

• Cnik staff qualify as Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007),
  February 2008 - Nigel Swain, Consultant and Business Development Manager at Cnik has qualified as MCTS in WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007
  

  Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) is the foundation of Microsoft's Enterprise Content Management (ECM) product line that delivers Document Management, Records Management, Business Process Workflow, Team Collaboration, Enterprise Search, Electronic Forms, Business Intelligence Solutions, Web Content Management, Intranets and so much more.  WSS 3.0 is a free product to all companies using Windows 2003 Server to operate the domain on their network.
  The MCTS qualification demonstrates that Cnik have the experience and knowledge to deliver services based on WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 to customers and are certified to do so within the Microsoft Partner program.
  WSS 3.0 is one possible solution to your information management needs.  Each organisation has unique requirements and Cnik would recommend discussing your needs before recommending a particular solution so if you would like any further information or a no commitment consultation please contact us at enquiries@cnik.co.uk.    

• Microsoft Accounting Professional 2008
  February 2008 - Microsoft pushes Accounting Professional as an alternative to Sage Accounting for Small businesses in the UK.

  Microsoft says that 'Microsoft® Office Accounting Professional 2008 is a complete accounting solution for small businesses'.  This may be true but really does depend on your small business.  Prior to the 2007 Edition Microsoft Accounting Professional was sold only in the US and so is very much the new guy on the block for Small Business accounting software.  Does this mean it's no good?  Well no, but it does mean it has a relatively small market share and not all accountant are familiar with it yet.  So why use it?  Well, it integrates well (as you should expect) with other Microsoft products like Word, Excel, and Outlook with Business Contact Manager.  Microsoft says that if you use Microsoft Office then it is a familiar interface so less training is needed which is true in parts.   You do need a basic knowledge of financial booking keeping in order to understand what you're doing but what Accounting package doesn't.  I think it will be this integration and familiar user interface that will make it a success plus the fact that you can download a free version called Microsoft Accounting Express 2008 from the Microsoft Site and that the full version is only £149.95.  It has most of the main functions of the paid for version and is something to get you started straight away; and it even does your VAT returns! For more details have a look at http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk.  If you need technical assistance installing or supporting this product then please contact Cnik at enquiries@cnik.co.uk.    

• Microsoft Announces Microsoft Search Server 2008
  January 2008 - Microsoft announce an new product that will greatly aid enterprises searching for information on their corporate networks.

  During November Microsoft announced two new products that will help businesses find information on their networks.  As a business grows the users of a network quite often spend more and more time searching for emails, documents, reports, procedures, drawings, pictures or files that they need to do their daily work but these are often dispersed between their email clients, financial systems, Intranets, files stores, or archive systems so time is wasted trying to track them down.  What is needed is a search tool like Google but one that indexes all your internal network information sources and displays the results quickly then you search.  Microsoft has introduced Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express and Microsoft Search Server 2008 and the best bit is that the software for the Express version is FREE.  You can take advantage of this FREE version if you don’t  need to search across multiple locations (sites) and don’t need to build in a high availability solution.  The Express version is available for download from the official Microsoft Search Server website now and the full Microsoft Search Server product will be available in the near future.  If you need technical assistance installing or supporting this product then please contact Cnik at enquiries@cnik.co.uk.    

• Cnik qualify as a Microsoft Small Business Specialist
  December 2007 - Cnik are proud to announce that they have qualified as Microsoft Small Business Specialist

  On 24 December 2007 Cnik received an early Christmas present with the award of this highly sort after qualification from Microsoft.  Cnik, already a Microsoft Registered Partner are proud to achieve this further distinction which demonstrates our commitment to enabling Small to Medium sized businesses and our expertise in Microsoft Small Business Server.  The qualification demonstrates that Cnik has achieved the standards required by Microsoft to analyse, design and implement a solution based on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 for customers with between 5 and 75 users.  Small Business Server is based on Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange Server and other core Microsoft technologies.  More information here or email Cnik at enquiries@cnik.co.uk or call 01389 760883 

   

   

Technical Papers

• Sophos Security Threat Report 2008